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Benjamin D Auerbach

Assistant Professor, Molecular and Integrative Physiology

Research Interests

  • Synaptic and circuit mechanisms underlying sensory processing

  • Experience-dependent plasticity

  • Autism spectrum disorders

  • Hearing disorders

Research Description

The brain has the remarkable ability to modify its connections and adapt its response properties based on prior experience. This experience-dependent plasticity greatly shapes our perception and behavior, is thought to be the physiological substrate of learning and memory, and is disrupted in a variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders. My research uses the rodent auditory system as a tractable model for elucidating the biological mechanisms and behavioral consequences of experience-dependent modification in the brain. We use a multidimensional approach to address these questions, combing quantitative sensory behavior with high density in vivo electrophysiology, ex vivo biochemical and neuroanatomical analysis, as well as optical imaging and manipulation of genetically-defined neuronal subtypes. Beyond the advancement of basic insight into brain function, the goal of this research is to identify pathophysiological mechanisms associated with neurodevelopmental and hearing disorders that often present with sound hypersensitivity— particularly autism spectrum disorders and hyperacusis— with the hope of translating our findings into novel therapies and treatment strategies.

 

Education

B.A. - Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Ph.D. - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA

Postdoc - Center for Hearing and Deafness, State University of New York at Buffalo

Grants

National Institute of Health

Brain and Behavior Research Foundation

Awards and Honors

2019 Travel Award for Association for Research in Otolaryngology
2018-2019 NARSAD Young Investigator Award
2015, 2017 Bishops Award for Neuroscience, University at Buffalo
2016 Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists Regional Nominee, University at Buffalo
2015 Society for Neuroscience Trainee Professional Development Award
 

Additional Campus Affiliations

Assistant Professor, Molecular and Integrative Physiology
Assistant Professor, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
Affiliate, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

Highlighted Publications

Auerbach BD, Osterweil EK, Bear MF (2011) Mutations causing syndromic autism define an axis of synaptic pathophysiology. Nature. Nov 23;480(7375):63-8

Auerbach BD, Radziwon K, Salvi R (2019) Testing the Central Gain Model: Loudness Growth Correlates with Central Auditory Gain Enhancement in a Rodent Model of Hyperacusis.Neuroscience. May 21;407:93-107.

Stoppel LJ*, Auerbach BD*, Senter RK, Preza AR, Lefkowitz RJ, Bear MF (2017) β-Arrestin2 Couples Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 5 to Neuronal Protein Synthesis and Is a Potential Target to Treat Fragile X. Cell Rep. Mar 21;18(12):2807-2814.

Recent Publications

Ethridge, L. E., Auerbach, B. D., Contractor, A., Ethell, I. M., McCullagh, E. A., & Pedapati, E. V. (2023). Editorial: Neural markers of sensory processing in development. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 17, Article 1256437. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2023.1256437

Auerbach, B. D., & Gritton, H. J. (2022). Hearing in Complex Environments: Auditory Gain Control, Attention, and Hearing Loss. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 16, Article 799787. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2022.799787

Liu, X., Kumar, V., Tsai, N. P., & Auerbach, B. D. (2022). Hyperexcitability and Homeostasis in Fragile X Syndrome. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, 14, Article 805929. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnmol.2021.805929

Auerbach, B. D., Manohar, S., Radziwon, K., & Salvi, R. (2021). Auditory hypersensitivity and processing deficits in a rat model of fragile X syndrome. Neurobiology of Disease, 161, Article 105541. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbd.2021.105541

Salvi, R., Auerbach, B. D., Lau, C., Chen, Y.-C., Manohar, S., Liu, X., Ding, D., & Chen, G.-D. (2021). Functional Neuroanatomy of Salicylate- and Noise-Induced Tinnitus and Hyperacusis. Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, 133-160. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2020_156

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